If wire nails are formed from pre-galvanized, carbon steel wire, which has a protective zinc layer disposed thereon, flaws tend to be produced within such layer, particularly upon the heads of such nails.
Frequently, such nails are collated so as to be magazine-fed within pneumatically powered or other nailing tools. Commonly, such nails are collated by means of parallel wires welded to the shanks of such nails. Other collating media, such as, for example, polymeric collating strips, may be alternatively used. The collated nails may be wound into coils.
If such nails are intended for outdoor usage, it is a practical necessity to apply a protective outer coat, such as, for example, a polymeric outer coat, to such nails. Such coat covers flaws that may be present within the zinc layer. Before such a coat can be properly applied, it is a practical necessity to clean such nails.
There has been a need, to which this invention is addressed, for a semi-automatic system that can be readily adapted to cleaning and coating wire nails, particularly coils of collated nails, as described above.